Taking remedial classes in college is pretty typical for most high school graduates. The Dallas Morning News explains why:
The answer lies partly in the unique history of American education, according to Michael Kirst, an education professor at Stanford University.
"We built two mass, disconnected systems. The K-12 system built up on its own, and higher education grew away from it," Dr. Kirst said. Over time, they’ve developed in "splendid isolation" of each other.
In England, Germany and many other developed countries, the two systems developed together. They have a long history of cooperation. For instance, together they create tests for college admission and placement, Dr. Kirst said. And here?
Many states require students to pass a test built on their state’s curriculum – in Texas, the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills – to graduate from high school.
But to get into many colleges, students must take the ACT or SAT, tests that were created by national companies and that don’t really reflect the skills states require for graduation.
Then, many colleges give another test once kids arrive to place them in classes.
And often, the K-12 and collegiate tests don’t even resemble each other. For instance, students can use calculators on the math portion of the TAKS, but not on many college entrance and placement tests.
Coming on the heels of yesterday’s post on the growing partnerships between K-12 and universities, this history–which, I think, most of us intuitively understand but never really acknowledge–kind of helps fill in the picture a bit as to why the disconnect exists in the first place. Finally, these parallel universes seem to be joining together. Faster, please. (Hat tip to Education at the Brink.)